DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: McCAIN - LIEBERMAN TICKET

McCain-Lieberman ticket could secure new alignment in 2008

Senior GOP strategists are weighing the possibility of Sen. Joseph Lieberman becoming a vice presidential candidate again—this time on the Republican Party ticket.

Lieberman, who ran and lost on the Democratic ticket with then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000, has become a major force behind the GOP presidential nomination drive of Sen. John McCain. Strategists said a McCain-Lieberman ticket could cut heavily into the solid Democratic Jewish vote, garner support among Reagan Democrats as well as working class constituents on the East Coast.

"For the Republicans, this would be a ground-breaking move and Lieberman has religious conservative credentials that would go far with the evangelical community," said a GOP leadership source.

So far, Lieberman has publicly ruled out seeking another chance at being vice president.

"Been there, done that," Lieberman said.

Lieberman has campaigned intensively for McCain, particularly in areas with a large concentration of Jewish voters. The independent senator from Connecticut campaigned across Florida, characterizing McCain as the one who cares most about U.S. national security.

"After all, the Islamist extremists we are fighting in this war do not distinguish between Democrats and Republicans," wrote Lieberman in a column for American Jewish newspapers. "They want to kill all of us, irrespective of our political differences, because we are all Americans. We need a president who is a proven leader on national security matters and someone who can reunite our country, restore faith in our government and rebuild confidence in America's future."
Still, Lieberman, who won his Senate re-election bid in 2006 with the help of Republican financing, was said to have been exhausted by questions of his Jewish faith during the 2000 presidential campaign. Lieberman was asked to explain his Orthodox Jewish beliefs, which included strict Sabbath observance and a ban on interfaith marriage.

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1) McCain-Lieberman ticket could secure new alignment in 2008